Urumqi, the capital city of northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, recorded 2,051new HIV cases last year, or six new cases a day, said the local health authorities on Tuesday,

The deadly disease is mainly transmitted through illegal drug users sharing contaminated needles, said a staff member with the city's disease control office, which registered the steepest annual rise in HIV infections since the first case was found in 1995.

Along with promoting the use of condoms in all hotels and entertainment venues, the city also plans to set up more methadone treatment clinics and consulting offices in public hospitals this year to curb the spread of the virus.

Xinjiang has the fourth largest number HIV/AIDS-infected people on the Chinese mainland. Most of the region's infections are found in Urumqi.

According to statistics from China's Ministry of Health, the number of officially reported HIV/AIDS cases grew to 183,733 nationwide at the end of October last year, up nearly 30 percent than the previous year. The ministry also said that at the end of last October, 12,464 people had died in China of HIV-related illnesses.

(Xinhua News Agency March 14, 2007)